No cure so you gotta rest. Nose is stuffed so you gotta mouth breathe. Throat is dry from mouth breathing. Dry throat makes it painful to swallow. Pain keeps you from sleeping and recovering. Lack of sleep leads to worse symptoms like piercing headaches. Need to rest to get rid of the headaches. Headache and swallowing is too painful to rest properly. Lack of rest perpetuates headaches, nose congestion, dry throat, painful swallowing.

What is this BS

  • darkdemize@sh.itjust.works
    11·
    11 hours ago

    Is that why placebos work? I could swear they had done studies that show that placebos can be as effective as medication under certain conditions, all other things being equal. Maybe not as effective as medication, but more effective than non-treatment.

      • AmidFuror@fedia.io
        3·
        9 hours ago

        Good find. Key paragraph:

        When measured objectively over the 42-day evaluation period, limb function improved in 12.1% and worsened in 8.6%, but did not change in most dogs. By contrast, caregivers (both owners and vets) reported improvements in lameness from the start, with the reported improvements increasing with time. The caregiver placebo effect appeared to be around 57% for owners and 40–45% for vets and was statistically significant at all assessment time points.

        Objective measurements are one way to detect this effect. Another would be a true double-blind trial where neither owner nor vet knows which medicine was given.

    • General_Effort@lemmy.world
      3·
      10 hours ago

      Only if the medication doesn’t work. The evidence is that placebos don’t work. Mostly, the placebo effect is a statistical illusion.

      It is plausible that the body will expend more energy to combat a disease if you are (sub-)consciously convinced that you are cared for and don’t need to stress. Stress hormones down-regulate the immune response. Cortisol, used for treatment of autoimmune disorders like asthma and allergies, is a stress hormone.

      But a sham treatment could also have the opposite effect. If your subconscious understands that as a signal that you must get back into action, you may end up releasing stress hormones. These psychological effects are just too idiosyncratic and fickle to be used reliably.

      Stuff like broken bones or cancer doesn’t respond to psychology at all. The body is already doing all it can.

      ETA: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7156905/